


Suffer the Weather

by dreamlittleyo



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Allergies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Feelings, Friendship, M/M, Pining, Secret Crush, boss/employee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:15:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26814232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamlittleyo/pseuds/dreamlittleyo
Summary: In which Alexander screws up and Eliza is no help at all.
Relationships: Alexander Hamilton/George Washington
Comments: 9
Kudos: 40





	Suffer the Weather

"Did you really not know he's allergic?" There is no suggestion of snark in Eliza's voice, but her wide-eyed sincerity is almost worse. Alexander already feels shitty. The last thing he wants is worried sympathy from his friend and fellow paralegal.

"Of course I _didn't fucking know_ ," he hisses. The retort comes out unnecessarily aggressive, despite the tight control he keeps over his volume. Eliza looks nonplussed but not especially taken aback. "Do you think I would've brought them into the office if I'd— Who the fuck is allergic to _daisies_?"

"Lots of people," Eliza informs him blandly.

Alexander lets his head thump forward onto the conference room table, landing between stacks of research. Across the table, Eliza peers at him over a wall of manila folders and bright red binders. They are the only two people currently occupying the tenth floor conference room, but the open door requires at least a sliver of discretion.

From the hallway and cubicles beyond, Alexander hears multiple phones ring at unpredictable intervals. There's no such thing as quiet in a busy law firm—at least, not at this hectic time of day. Late nights are another story. Easier to get excess work done after hours, with the building not quite vacant but nearly. No one to get in his way in the firm's big library of case law.

He hasn't been able to sneak in late at night recently, though. Washington has caught him out one too many times. Has taken to lecturing him about work-life balance, and even worse, watching him like Washington is actually worried. His eyes are so soft and kind when they catch on Alexander now, and it's not fair.

Alexander was already in love wit his boss when Washington was an impenetrable wall of stern authority and short temper. Suddenly the man seems to give a fuck—seems determined to send Alexander home at a reasonable hour and bring him coffee in the mornings and make sure he's okay—and Alexander doesn't know what to do with this new state of things.

He's taken to sneaking work home, where he can maintain his nocturnal habits without getting caught, but even this only functions for a couple days at a time.

Washington watches him too closely now. Washington _calls him out_ when Alexander hasn't been sleeping, trapping him every time with that gentle yet unyielding air of concern.

The daisies were stupid. Even without the goddamn allergy issue—and seriously, _how_ , how did Alexander's boss-obsessed, detail-oriented brain not know this?—he had no business bringing silly flowers into the office. Leaving them on Washington's big mahogany desk like some sort of courting gift, like this is somehow a normal thing to do. What was he thinking?

Eliza is the only one who knows the daisies came from him, and Alexander is grateful she isn't giving him more shit about it. God knows how many times she's had to put up with his heartsick pouting over the years. And while she clearly wishes he'd find a way to move on and stop torturing himself, she is the one person Alexander trusts completely with this secret. Whenever the tide comes in too fast—when his feelings for Washington are too much and he can feel the waves closing over him—it's Eliza who has his back.

She's wearing a look now that makes him wonder—more anxiously each second—what painful truth she might be about to comment on.

A tap of knuckles on the jamb startles Alexander nearly out of his seat, and he's mortified to discover Washington standing in the open door.

"Sir!" he says, sounding a little too frantic. He forces himself to a more normal register and asks, "Do you need anything?"

If Washington notices his state of mental and emotional disarray, there is blessedly no outward sign. Washington looks as composed as ever, if still painfully red around the eyes. When he speaks he still sounds noticeably congested, though it's not nearly as bad as before.

"I could use your thoughts on a complicated policy question." Washington glances toward Eliza and adds, "If you don't mind me borrowing him, of course."

"Take him." Eliza waves a dismissive hand and reaches for the next folder in her stack. Alexander could almost have missed the pitying look she gives him as her gaze drops to a new page.

Alexander stands—nearly knocking over his own papers in the process—and follows where Washington leads.

**Author's Note:**

> [Prompts: Ring, Daisy, Tidal]


End file.
